Pig rearing houses



Dec. 28, 1965 H. BIEHL 3,225,737

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Dec. 2s, 1955 H. BIEHL 3,225,737

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PIG HEARING HOUSES Filed Feb. 18, 1964 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 g ENTaR:

United States Patent Oflce 3,225,737 Patented Dec. 2S, 1965 3,225,737 PIG REARING HOUSES Heinrich Biehl, Heinrichshof, near Trittau, Germany Filed Feb. 18, 1964, Ser. No. 345,621 Claims priority, application Germany, Apr. 2, 1963,

1 Claim. (Cl. 119-16) The present invention relates to pig-rearing houses.

It is well-known that pigs prefer to have a dunging area separate from their usual feeding and sleeping area. In view of this, many arrangements of piggeries have been devised, which contain a number of pens, each consisting of a covered feeding and sleeping area separated by swing doors from an open dunging area which also enables the pigs to obtain fresh air. The results obtained with such pensare generally favourable, so that these piggeries are widely used today; however some difficulties have arisen in use, especially with regard to removal of dung from the dunging area. Such removal can indeed be carried out simply by hand but at a relatively high cost inlabour, and it becomes more and more difficult to obtain the necessary hand labour. Mechanical methods can beA used to replace the hand labour, but the capital outlay `is so high that it adds very considerably to the costs of the pig production, and is also less practical in Aproportion, tothe size of the unroofed dunging area, since this area also received atmospheric precipitation which considerably increases the accumulation of liquid to be removed.

It has accordingly been proposed to rear pigs in pig- 'geries which are divided internally by partitions extending from the ioor to the roof to form totally enclosed 4pens, andra separate access footway. It has shown in con- 'trast to the generally held belief that pigs prosper best in a' closedV climate which is maintained by body heat a't'a temperature as near as possible to 30 to 32 C, and this-temperature can only be obtained by eliminating any substantial circulation of air within the pens, whereupon it' isdiffcult to maintain an adequate oxygen level unless Ventilating apparatus is installed, at very considerable -cost. vT his form of closed piggery therefore only rarely gives improved results.

These difliculties have been overcome by means of the animal rearingv house or piggery according to the inv`vention', vwhich comprises an enclosed structure divided internally, by'partitions which permit free circulation of air, into a plurality of pens and an access footway along one side of the pens, a dung removal channel being constructed along the other side of the pens, and wherein each ,pen vcomprises a dunging area the oor of which slopes ltoward said v'channel and a feeding and sleeping area the `floor of which slopes toward the dunging area, and a rinsing pipe extends along said dunging area near said footway including at least one nozzle for spraying water across the whole extent of each dunging area to flush dirt therefrom into the channel.

By means of the invention the desired cleaning of these dunging areas canbe. automated, and the delivery of the water regulated by meansofeg. magnetically controlled valves. Alternatively automatic cleaning can be carried out in that a water nozzle disposed within the water pipe which is slitted towards the dunging area will be moved along the dunging surface; the water jet ejected by said water nozzle will rinse off the dunging surface. The movement of the nozzles can be controlled by means of a single motor and gear drive. The motor is disposed in the middle of the piggery and supplies both sides.

The pens of a piggery according to the invention only separate the individual groups of pigs one from another but do not prevent air circulation between the pens, although at the same time the piggery as a whole is closed and only communicates with the atmosphere through doors and ventilation openings. In this way the climate inside the pens is maintained at about 20-22 C. by means of the body heat of the pigs, a temperature which is considerably higher than the temperature of the aforesaid type of piggery which communicates with open dunging areas through swing doors or the like. In this way a sufficiently high temperature is obtained in all the pens, which is particularly important for those pens containing the younger pigs. The normal body temperature of pigs is comparatively high, namely 40 C. The control of the body heat of the younger pigs is however unstable compared with that of pigs nearly ready for slaughter, and the maintenance of this temperature within the pens represents an important advantageous feature.

The arrangement according to the invention for readily cleaning the dunging area of each pen by means of water also contributes directly towards the well-being of the pigs, since they thus have a comparatively clean area in which to live, at an adequately high temperature, but they are not forced to move around unnecessarily. The dung removal is extremely simple and not only saves labour but also causes minimum disturbance to the pigs when the pen is cleaned. This is because the cleaning. is extremely quick and also, in general, very little additional mechanical aids such as Scrapers or brushes are needed. These factors together lead to a remarkably good fattening result. The piggeries according to the invention are also particularly suitable for erection in highly populated areas since the dung is falling inside the pens and there is very little inconvenience to the locality by reason of unpleasant smells.

The invention will be further explained with reference to a preferred embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings. These represent a piggery for the fattening of pigs over the entire period until slaughter. The individual pens are of different sizes; the pens of different size all take the same numbers of pigs but at different ages. The youngest pigs of about one month are placed in the smallest pen; after a short period they are transferred to the next larger box and new pigs are placed in the first box. The pens are preferably arranged along both sides of an access passageway; the pens may thus conveniently be of the same width but of differing lengths, and there may be three small pens and one or two larger pens on each side of the footway. In this way, excellent heat exchange can be obtained between the individual pens and thus between the individual age stages of a fattening period. The dunging area extends over the complete width between the footway and the dunging channel at the edge of the piggery, and is moreover comparatively small; its size amounts to between a quarter and a sixth of the entire surface of the pen, the dunging area for the younger age stages being a little larger proportionately. The disturbance caused amongst the pigs occupying a pen by dung deposition is thus reduced to aminimum.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. l is a plan of a piggery according t-o the invention; i

FIG. 2 is a side view of the piggery of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged section along the line III-III of the pen of FIGS, 1 to 2; and

FIG. 4 is a section along the line IV-IV through a portion of the pen of FIGS. 1 to 2 on a yet larger scale.

The piggery illustrated is a building having side walls 7, 8, 28 (FIG. 2), end walls, and a roof 9 (FIGS. 2 and 3) which is supported on the corner wall portions 24, 29, 23, 30 and on internal pillars 31. The building is erected upon a concrete foundation 10 (FIGS. 3 and 4), which includes a damp-proof and heat-insulatory layer E 11 upon which a further concrete or plaster floor 12 is laid.

The piggery is divided internally by slatted partitions 41 (FIG. 1) into five pens 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, which are arranged on each side of a central passageway 6, which allows human access for feeding and cleaning purposes. The pens are of differing sizes, and are each intended to hold 20 pigs of different ages; thus the youngest pigs are placed in the smallest pen 1, and at the end of the fattening period, of about months they will have been moved out of the largest box 5 Windows 39 are arranged in each pen, of a number and size according to the size of the pen, and inwardly opening doors 43 are provided to give external access to each dunging area. At each end of the central passageway 6 there are doors 42, and ventilators for the passage may also be provided in the roof.

Each pen comprises a dunging area 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 (FIG. l), of a size between one quarter and one sixth of the whole pen, and a feeding and sleeping area 18, 19, 20, 21, 22. Each dunging area extends the full width of each pen, from the passageway 6 to the side walls of the piggery, and a drainage passage 25 passes, from each dunging area, under the side walls of the piggery; each passage preferably extends along the whole length of the dunging area. The iioor of each dunging area slopes, as indicated by the arrows 32, towards the drainage channels, and the floor of each of the feeding and sleeping areas 18 to 22 also slopes, as indicated by the arrows 27, from an inner corner towards the outer corner adjacent the dunging area of that pen, so that they also drain towards the drainage passages 25 of the dunging areas.

Along each side of the piggery a dung removal channel 33, 34 is constructed (FIGS. 3 and 4), which leads to a manure collecting tank or pit indicated at 40 (FIG. 1); this channel can be constructed of concrete integrally with the concrete foundation and can be covered by a removable cover 35 (FIGS. 3 and 4). The drainage passages of the dunging areas open into these channels.

The feeding, watering and cleaning arrangements will now be described with references to FIGS 3 and 4. A feeding trough 36 runs at the rear of each pen, along the access passageway 6; the trough is supported on a base 45 and is continuous along the length of the piggery, so that it may readily be cleaned by a single traverse with a rubber squeegee. A trickle tube 37 situated on the edge of the trough 36 provides drinking water, and is supplied from a supply pipe 38.`

A pipe 26 runs between each trough 36 and the ad- 'jacent pens, and has nozzle openings for spraying the dunging areas 13 toy 17; in order to clean these areas, this pipe is connected to a high pressure water supply (not shown). The pipe is arranged in a recess 44 in the support 45, so as to prevent any risk of water being sprayed into the feeding trough or the passageway.

In FIG. 3 there is shown a screen 46 which is provided for each pen, and which is hinged so that in one position the trough 36 is accessible from the passage 6 and in the other position it is accessible from the pens. For this purpose the lower edge 47 of the screen is displaceably guided in an approximately horizontally extending guide whereas the upper edge 48 is movably guided in an approximately vertically extending guide near the posts 31.

It has been found that an irreproachable rinsing of the dung is possible only through the spraying of the dunging areas from the spraying tube. It is only occasionally necessary to use additional Scrapers, brushes or similar mechanical tools on the dunging area, which is possible without any further ado and without much expenditure of energy from the access passage. During the Washing away of the dung the pigs themselves are not much disturbed.

The pens can also readily be cleaned whenever desired by a worker standing in the passageway, either by hand or with a spray hose as shown schematically in FIG. 3 without having to enter the pens. It is not necessary to use a tractor which, as a rule is available only in the morning, at noon and in the evening. The repeated removal of dung by rinsing also improves the atmosphere.

What I claim is:

A pig-rearing house comprising, in combination, an enclosed structure defined by a oor, a pair of end walls, a pair of side walls and a roof, a plurality of partitions within said structure defining a plurality of pens therein, said partitions being disposed adjacent said oor and having an upper portion terminating well below said roof permitting unrestricted circulation -of air throughout said structure interior, a pair of parallel, spaced, elongated feed troughs extending between the end walls of said structure, said troughs defining a footway therebetween and forming a portion Iof said pens, said partitions extending from said side walls to the nearest trough, ventilation means and insulation means associated with said structure, a dung area defined on the door within each of said pens, said dung areas extending from a trough to a structure side wall and sloping downward from said trough toward said side wall, dung-receiving channels defined below said dung area and adjacent said side walls, means establishing communication between the lowermost portion of said dung areas and said channels, a dung-collecting pit defined -below said floor and adjacent one of said end walls, said dung-receiving channels communicating with said pit, an elongated recess defined in each of said troughs opening toward the associated pens and nearest side wall, water conduits completely received within said recesses including at least one nozzle directed t-oward each dung area, said nozzles adapted to spray water upon and across said dung areas into said dung-receiving channels, said recesses being of greater depth than the Icross-sectional dimension of said conduits and nozzles thereby completely shielding said conduits and nozzles from livestock within said pens.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,765,925 6/1930 Lodge 119--16 3,097,625 7/1963 Sievers 119-15 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,137,603 10/1962 Germany.

454,518 10/ 1936 Great Britain.

SAMUEL KOREN, Primary Examiner. HUGH R. CHAMBLEE, Examiner. 

